Sunday, October 31, 2010

End of season inventory at Kennedy School

Last winter I remember drawing inspiration from watching how the plants at the Kennedy School Gardens responded to the weather. In anticipation of another “difficult” winter I thought it may be prudent to check out what’s growing now (and how they look), for comparison come January, February and beyond. And please note if you see a “?”…my i.d. is just a slightly educated guess…

Perhaps a Beschorneria?

A couple of Squid Agaves (Agave bracteosa). I watched at least one of these sail through the winter cold with no problem. I went ahead and planted one in my garden. We’ll see.

Sedum palmeri, they've planted a lot of this.

Maybe a Puya? Or a young Dasylirion?

Yucca linearifolia?

And I think perhaps Festuca punctoria (?) with more Sedum palmeri.

I believe this is an Agave toumeyana, one of the few kinds of Agave that made it through last winter in my garden.

I guess Agave gentryi “Jaws” but it could also be a few others.

Manfreda undulata 'Chocolate Chips.'

An Opuntia variety.

I can get confused between Agave parryi and Agave ovatifolia, especially when they're small, but I think this is A. parryi? It's a beauty.

So maybe then this is Agave ovatifolia?

And this a Yucca rostrata, I believe.

I’m guessing an Agave americana? I’m also starting to think I should have just posted pictures and not tried to identify any of them, this is getting ridiculous with all my question marks! I don’t want to mistakenly identify something and have it be wrong, if anyone wants to go out on a limb and agree or disagree with me please do! And Eric (the Kennedy School gardener extraordinaire) if you happen to be reading please share your knowledge!

This one I know! Manfreda macho mocha.

Dasylirion?

Euphorbia stygiana or Euphorbia mellifera? I planted an E. mellifera early this spring that I picked up at Garden Fever for a song (it was on it’s last leg). Mine is looking good and I’m praying it survives, I know they can be on the border of hardy even in a good year.

I love it when the prickly pears get a tinge of purple to them!

Leaving KS and heading towards home I encountered a mass of what I instantly thought of as hoverflies, as they were just hovering in the air (thus my identification, my knowledge of the insect world is pretty pathetic) can you see them?

6 comments:

McMinneman's must have different gardeners for each of their venues. We walked by the one in St Johns last night and it couldn't be more different. Glad you got out to enjoy the weather...hah! good you didn't put it off til today.

That's a surprising number of succulents that will tolerate your winters. I guess I'm just used to living with the real wimps of the succulent world that don't like any temperatures that starts with the numeral 2.

ricki, I believe they do. Actually I took those pictures over a week ago. Just slow to get them up. Yesterday was crazy wasn't it? So warm but windy...and then of course the rain.

gnomicscience, yes somehow rebar and kids does seem like a dangerous combination, not that it would stop me. And good comparison to the the Chinese Garden for you, so true. I wish I managed to get myself there more often. I should look into purchasing a membership.

James, unfortunately I don't think they'll all tolerate this winter. Some are new plantings this summer and I'm eager to see how they do. Several of their Agaves turned to mush last winter, along with a Manfreda.

Picture 6 looks like a Puya, and the Dasylirion looks to be D. wheeleri.

Fascinating to me how your different climate affects the Agave's appearance. The foliage is more opened up, I guess to get more sunlight to the leaf bases(?). Here with more sunlight they close up. I see that more opened shape also in shadehouse-grown baby Agaves.